Chemical Engineering Capstone Course Improved for Broader Impacts

Joaquin Rodriguez; Robert Enick

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Conference: 2023 ASEE North Central Section Conference
Location: Morgantown, West Virginia
Publication Date: March 24, 2023
Start Date: March 24, 2023
End Date: March 25, 2023
Page Count: 21
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44905
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44905
Download Count: 181

Paper Authors

biography

Joaquin Rodriguez University of Pittsburgh orcid.org/0000-0002-7238-4774

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Joaquin Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh since 2018. He received his bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar (Caracas, Venezuela), MSc. and PhD in the same discipline from the University of Pittsburgh (1990-92). He developed his expertise in thermal cracking processes and advanced materials (cokes, carbon fibers) from oil residues, and became a business leader for specialty products (lube oils, asphalts, waxes, cokes) at Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA (1983-1998). He is a founding member of Universidad Monteavila (Caracas, Venezuela) (1998—2018) and became the Chancellor of this university (2005-2015), and the President of the Center for Higher Studies (2015-2018), including teaching in the Humanities. After rejoining the University of Pittsburgh, he has been teaching Pillar courses on Reactive Process Engineering, Process Control, Process Control Lab, and Process Design. In addition to technical courses, his service extends over curriculum development, outreach programs, alumni network, team and leadership skills development, global awareness, sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Robert Enick

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Abstract

Capstone courses in engineering aim to provide an immersive experience for senior students integrating knowledge from previous courses and projecting entrance at the job market by demonstrating skills and competences. They normally last for a semester, as a mandatory requirement for graduation, and represent one of the most challenging activities for students, with high involvement from faculty. The amount and diversity of related contents require active teamwork and coordination, providing an excellent environment for developing teamwork skills. Generally, colleges are proud to display results from these projects and enter into national design competitions. Capstone courses in chemical engineering generally target the design of a manufacturing plant with multiple components for the production of a standard or innovative product. One version of our capstone design course focuses on the complete design of a midsize commercial styrene monomer plant from dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (an alternative version allows students to develop a process of their choosing). The course focuses more on learning than on innovation, which has been reserved for other courses in the curriculum. The choice of the process and scale has allowed faculty to build for over 20 years a package of resources for facilitating students’ learning from materials characterization to equipment specification, from process diagrams to advanced simulation, from plant specifications to detailed economic evaluation, from kinetic research to formal presentations for potential investors. Students are trained in a progressive approach to design manufacturing plants with the assistance of ASPEN simulation as they move forward in the sequence of timely selected steps, leading to a 3D Simulation by AVEVA software for an even more realistic approach to the final process design. However, the rich technical content delivered through lectures and project assignments, which is the core of the course, has been augmented with the integration of powerful skills for a more complete formation of students in their final step at college. In this regard, the course adds a “Virtual Office” space on MS TEAMS for teamwork and coaching, and the assessment of Global impacts extending the analysis of building the plant in a foreign location. It also includes an Outreach Project to explore teamwork skills in a non-technical environment and a Legacy project where students establish personalized relationships with alumni, seeking mentoring on professional development and work-life integration, and framing a more contextualized scope for these technical projects from alumni’s experience. The paper assesses the balance of technical and personal skills in wrapping up the final stage in college for undergraduate chemical engineering seniors.

Citation
Format

Rodriguez, J., & Enick, R. (2023, March), Chemical Engineering Capstone Course Improved for Broader Impacts Paper presented at 2023 ASEE North Central Section Conference, Morgantown, West Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--44905

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Capstone courses in engineering aim to provide an immersive experience for senior students integrating knowledge from previous courses and projecting entrance at the job market by demonstrating skills and competences. They normally last for a semester, as a mandatory requirement for graduation, and represent one of the most challenging activities for students, with high involvement from faculty. The amount and diversity of related contents require active teamwork and coordination, providing an excellent environment for developing teamwork skills. Generally, colleges are proud to display results from these projects and enter into national design competitions.  Capstone courses in chemical engineering generally target the design of a manufacturing plant with multiple components for the production of a standard or innovative product. One version of our capstone design course focuses on the complete design of a midsize commercial styrene monomer plant from dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (an alternative version allows students to develop a process of their choosing). The course focuses more on learning than on innovation, which has been reserved for other courses in the curriculum. The choice of the process and scale has allowed faculty to build for over 20 years a package of resources for facilitating students’ learning from materials characterization to equipment specification, from process diagrams to advanced simulation, from plant specifications to detailed economic evaluation, from kinetic research to formal presentations for potential investors. Students are trained in a progressive approach to design manufacturing plants with the assistance of ASPEN simulation as they move forward in the sequence of timely selected steps, leading to a 3D Simulation by AVEVA software for an even more realistic approach to the final process design. However, the rich technical content delivered through lectures and project assignments, which is the core of the course, has been augmented with the integration of powerful skills for a more complete formation of students in their final step at college. In this regard, the course adds a “Virtual Office” space on MS TEAMS for teamwork and coaching, and the assessment of Global impacts extending the analysis of building the plant in a foreign location. It also includes an Outreach Project to explore teamwork skills in a non-technical environment and a Legacy project where students establish personalized relationships with alumni, seeking mentoring on professional development and work-life integration, and framing a more contextualized scope for these technical projects from alumni’s experience. The paper assesses the balance of technical and personal skills in wrapping up the final stage in college for undergraduate chemical engineering seniors.
AU  - Joaquin Rodriguez
AU  - Robert Enick
CY  - Morgantown, West Virginia
DA  - 2023/03/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Chemical Engineering Capstone Course Improved for Broader Impacts
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44905
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44905
ER  -